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The night air was beginning to get cooler in Freedom City, though still far warmer that it would be in the months to come. But neither the current cool temperatures nor the freezing ones that would soon arrive were of any concern to Henry Mason, as his powers allowed him to survive in the depths to space.

Since his return to Earth, Henry had taken the identity of the Solar Sentinel, using his powers to aid the fight against crime within the city. For the ageless veteran, it was just another war to be fought.

Currently, the ageless veteran of an intergalactic war was gliding over the streets of the Boardwalk. Over next to the south bank of the South River, the brightly lit casinos stood out from the dark waters and often dark streets that stretched to the south.

Solar Sentinel was just about to move on to another part of the city when he heard the sounds of sirens below him. Glancing down, he spotted a pair of police cars, their lights flashing as their sirens continued to sound, speeding down one of the dark streetsâ€¦

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The crisp chill of the city was a welcome feeling to him. He always liked the autumn and winter of Freedom City. Even before his powers made the chill irrelevant. However, he spotted the police cars and decided to fly a bit lower. He matched speed with them while looking ahead to see what it was they were chasing.

He flew down beside the first cruiser and looked into it. He gave a nod to the officer to let them know that a hero had spotted them, and was there to help. With that, he pulled up a bit more and looked ahead again, trying to decide how best to handle things.

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As Solar Sentinel first began to follow above the two police cars, he quickly realized that they did not appear to be chasing any other vehicle. When he dropped down beside the lead car, the officers inside seemed briefly surprised, then gave him an understanding nod in return as they focused back on the road ahead.

The cars and their superhero escort continued on for about five more blocks before taking a right hand turn down a somewhat more narrow street. Up ahead, Solar Sentinel spotted what he thought might be the officers' destination: bank about a block and a half down the street, with a dark van parked out front. A pair of figures were moving in the shadows near the front of the bank, though he could not make out any detailsâ€¦

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Solar Sentinel spotted the figures and, in a flash, bolted through the air to them. The supernatural blue glow that surrounded his body flared, making it look like an azure comet was streaking through the city. He appeared in front of them, still glowing slightly.

He let them take in his height, bulk, and levitating state. The bold blue and bold costume. He knew that body language was essential, and fully intended to take advantage of his appearance.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked. His accent now a strange mixture of southern, New Jersey, and something imperceptible and untraceable.

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The two men were surprised by the sudden appearance of the glowing Solar Sentinel, staring at him in shocked silence for a few moments. Now that he was closer, the hero could see that both men were armed, one with a pistol, the other with a sub-machinegun. They were dressed in jeans and light coats, and both wore ski masks.

He was also able to see that the entrance to the bank was wide open. Something had melted a large hole through both the metal crating covering the double glass doors, along with most of the doors themselves.

Then the man with the sub-machinegun raised his weapon as he shouted out, "We've got trouble!" in a thick New Jersey accent. He fired a burst from his weapon, but was apparently still somewhat shaken by the heroâ€™s sudden appearance, as all the rounds went well wide of the intended target.

Meanwhile, the two squad cars sped down the street towards the scene closing half the distanceâ€¦

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Solar Sentinel watched the gunfire fire at everything but him, and then slugged the man in the chest. His opponent scooted backward several feet and lay unconscious. Solar Sentinel turned to the other man, intent on doing the same.

He wondered, briefly, if this were a job only being pulled by two men. The situation at hand seemed a little...simple, to him. He considered other possibilities, and decided he'd investigate them...after he dealt with the two in front of him. After all, if your first reflex upon seeing a superhero is to try to shoot him, how likely are you to be innocent?

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Seeing his companion sent flying the glowing figure, the other man in the ski mask backed away slightly while raising his slightly shaking pistol. He was unable to stabilize his weapon before pulling the trigger, naturally leading to the shot missing Solar Sentinel by a good margin.

But before the hero could react again, a figure stepped out of the hole in the doorway to the bank. The man was about average height, but it was his appearance that quickly drew attention. He was wearing a black body suit with orange gloves and boots (covered with numerous thin black vertical stripes). But most striking was the flaming orange jack oâ€™ lantern he was wearing over his head. In one hand he was carrying a large burlap sack.

"Well well, looks like we got ourselves the attention o' a 'ero." He said with a heavy Irish accent that was slightly muffled by the pumpkin mask. He brought his free hand up and a burst of energy shot forth.

But the blast was not aimed at Solar Sentinel, it instead flew past the hero to strike the front of the lead police car, causing a bit of damage to the vehicle. But the impact was enough to cause the officer driving to lose control of the car, causing it to swerve up onto the sidewalk and smash into a telephone pole. The front of the vehicle crumpled inward, the hood flying up with the force of the impact.

"Why don' ye be a good lad an' run over ta get those razzers some medical attention. Looks as if they are likely ta be needin' it."

Behind the man in the pumpkin mask, another man in a ski mask emerged from inside the bank, also carrying a burlap sack. He glanced around quickly and then ran over to the side of the van.

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Solar Sentinel gasped, seeing the damage to the police car. He bolted forward and slammed his fist into the man, but saw that it had no effect. Well, that was troublesome. A group of what looked like bank robbers lead by a man who was clearly tougher than he looked.

He knew he'd need a little extra oomph for this. He backed up and the glow intensified slightly around him. "Well this is interesting." He whispered to himself.

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The pumpkin headed man grunted slightly as he took the punch from Solar Sentinel. "You'll 'ave ta do better than that boyo." He replied.

Just then, yet another man in a ski mask emerged from the bank, running up next to the pumpkin headed man and Solar Sentinel. As he reached the pair, the man tried to swing at the hero with his pistol, but the hero was able to block the clumsy blow with ease.

The man who had previously tried to shoot Solar Sentinel now turned his attention to the other police car that was still speeding towards them. Moving over towards the van, the man brought his pistol up and took a shot at the police car. However, his aim was not much better than when he had tried to shoot Solar Sentinel, and the shot ricocheted off the pavement one of the tires.

The police car skidded to a halt a short distance from the van and the officer in the passenger side opened his door and got out behind it. Brining his pistol up, he fired at the man who had just shot at them, hitting the ski masked criminal squarely. The man fell back against the van and the crumpled to the pavement.

The pumpkin headed criminal then dropped the bag he was holding in his hand as his entire body became shrouded in flames. He then flew up into the air, stopping above the scene as he looked down at the second police car. Pulling one hand back, he then threw it forward, sending a small jet of flame flying down towards the ground, which landed a short distance from the police car where it exploded in a ball of flame.

The explosion washed over the police car, causing it some damage. Both the officers in the car were caught in the blast, and were knocked to the ground unconscious by it.

Inside the van, the man who had run out just after the pumpkin headed man climbed into the driver's seat and started up the van's engineâ€¦

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As a hero, Solar Sentinel had good reason to be angry at those who hurt police. As a firefighter, however, that gave him even more reason to put the man in the pumpkin mask down so he couldn't hurt anymore people. He drew deeper from the cosmic energy source that empowered him. Observers would have noticed the glow around his body spike into a flame-like apparition for a split second as he fired a blast of cosmic energy at the masked man.

Good, that one hurt. "What, was that one better?" He said. He wanted this man to focus on him, and leave the cops alone.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Thunder King

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The man who had tried to hit Solar Sentinel with his pistol watched with shock as the hero blasted the man with the flaming pumpkin head. Deciding he did not want to go up against the hero, he bent down and picked up the bag of money that the supervillain had dropped, and then ran over to hop into the back of the van.

Two other men in ski masks came running out of the bank as well, veering around Solar Sentinel as they moved over into the van as well.

Up in the sky, the man wreathed in flames managed to right himself after taking the energy blast from Solar Sentinel. "Aye, that certainly was a fair improvement." He begrudgingly stated. "Let's see 'ow ya take one in return." He then added, bringing up one of his hands as a beam of light shot forth and struck the hero squarely in the chest.

In the van, the thug in the driver seat saw all his conscious companions were aboard, and started off down the street, away from the direction the police cars had been coming from.

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Solar Sentinel shrugged the blast off, rolling with the impact to ensure it didn't injure him. However, this threw his aim off considerably, and while he was able to return fire, it barely missed his target. Meanwhile, he glanced over at the men who were threatening to drive off with the money. He considered chasing after them, but decided that if this other guy could seriously hurt him, he could hurt a lot of other people.

The money would have to wait.

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The fiery man with the pumpkin head just managed to avoid Solar Sentinel's attack, looking down at the hero as he righted himself once more. "Well boyo, I 'ave better things ta be doin' than continue this row with ya." He stated, as his hand came back and he threw a jet of flame down towards the front of the bank.

There was an explosion of flame, which rolled into the opening in the bankâ€™s doors, igniting small flames along the exterior of the bank and inside as well. Solar Sentinel was also caught in the blast.

The supervillain did not wait to see the results of his handiwork, as he was already flying off in the direction the van was moving.

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Solar Sentinel took off flying after them. He would have stayed, but his power set was ill suited to fixing a fire, and he didn't have any of his gear. He knew emergency services would be along soon. It was a terrible thing to leave them like that, but there were more competent people on their way, and he knew that as bad as things looked, nobody was dead. Besides, a man this dangerous would need to be taken down.

He caught up to his opponent and slammed his fist into him. Unfortunately, the blow did nothing as his foe's aerial momentum negated the force of the strike.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Solar Sentinel growled.

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As Solar Sentinel's fist connected with the supervillain, the flames surrounding the man burned his arm slightly. The man managed to take the blow, veering to one side slightly. "Ye just don' give up do ye boyo?" He replied.

Down below, the van continued to speed down the street, taking a sharp right onto a side street after a couple of blocks.

The pumpkin headed villain brought one hand up and fired another beam of light at the glowing hero. The blast struck dead center, but once again Solar Sentinel was able to take the hit with little effect as the villain flew off down the street, banking to his left and away from the direction the van had been going.

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Henry realized that as fast as he was, even he could not pursue both villain and robbers at the same time. That, and the officers below were still injured. He determined the best course of action. He pulled away from the flame shooting villain and dove down to the police officers that were unconscious.

He plucked the radio up and took off to his opponent.

As a firefighter, he was familiar with the ways of contacting dispatches. He rattled off addresses, streets, and which way the van had gone. With that, he knew that the officers would be cared for, and the van would be pursued.

Which meant he had the freedom to act on his real target.

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Solar Sentinel was easily able to catch back up with the flying supervillain after picking up a radio and calling into dispatch about the situation. The fiery villain glanced back as the glowing hero closed once again. "Back again?" He asked with a slight hint of amusement in his voice. "I guess twas too much ta ask that ye would just give it up."

With that, the pumpkin headed villain twisted around more, throwing one hand back to sent a blast of energy flying at Solar Sentinel. This time the villain's aim was off, and blast streaked by the hero, blasting loose a small chunk of wall on a building a couple blocks back.

Solar Sentinel just heard what he thought was some muffled grumbling from the man before he sped further away from the scene of the bank, passing over the South River now.

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Henry growled. This guy, whoever he was, was trouble. He burned to the touch, so this time, he did not plan on charging in to hit him. He fired a blast of pale blue energy at his foe, hoping to strike true. However, his enemy shrugged it off casually. This was not good. He needed a plan to stop him, and soon.

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After managing to shrug off Solar Sentinel's latest blast, the fiery pumpkin headed villain continued flying over the South River and over into the Waterfront section of downtown Freedom. As he went, he sent another focused blast of light at the glowing hero, but once again missed the intended target.

As Solar continued along after him, the villain turned back to call out. "It appears we could row all night 'ero. But seein' we are getting' ta more crowded parts o' the city, maybe it might be best for us ta just go our separate ways." He added, gesturing towards nearby buildings. "Wouldn' do for me ta accidently light up one o' these places now would it?"

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That was the last thing he should have said. Rather than discourage him, all it did was convince him he needed to end the fight soon.

"You dare threaten civilians?! You must be dumber than you look!"

Henry did not know the depths of his cosmic power. He had never tapped into it's total potential. Though using it could exhaust him, it always felt as though there was simply more power where that came from. He had spent much of his life with this power, and only ever used it to blast foes or fly fast or something similar. He came to the growing realization that he could not hope to defend his home if he refused to stretch the uppermost limits of his power.

Solar Sentinel's cosmic aura flared into bluish flames. His whole body seemed alight with cosmic fire as his right hand swept forward, sending a beam of azure light flying at his foe.

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If the costumed criminal had realized his mistake given Solar Sentinel's tone as the hero closed once again, the bizarre pumpkin head mask betrayed not such revelation. The villain had just been turning back around to face Solar when he was struck squarely in the chest by another blast from the hero.

Solar heard a satisfying grunt of pain as the pumpkin headed villain was sent tumbling a good hundred feet through the air. Eventually he managed to right himself, mostly, and the flames still surrounded his body. But he otherwise appeared too disoriented to either follow up on his threat or launch any other attack against Solar Sentinel, who continued to close.

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With his opponent disoriented, there was no better opportunity to finish the fight once and for all. As soon as the man looked as though he was starting to recover, Solar Sentinel fired another blast that sent him crashing through a window. Without a moment's rest, he charged into the broken window and plucked the unconscious man from the floor.

He swung around in the office and careened out of the same hole he made with the man's body. He was not sure if the police needed his help with the other criminals, so he kicked his speed into high gear. For a moment, a blue trail glowed in the air as he hurled back to the police officers. He was already back at the scene before the trail faded.

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It took Solar Sentinel only a few moments to return to the scene of the robbery carrying the unconscious supercriminal. When the glowing hero arrived, he saw several other police cars had reached the scene during his pursuit of the costumed criminal. Some of the newly arrived officers were providing first aid to the injured officers who had arrived at the scene with Sentinel, as the EMTs had yet to arrive.

The other officers had secured the unconscious robbers that had been left behind at the scene or securing the bank.

A couple of officers had turned to regarded the glowing hero as he came down to land, their hands reaching for their sidearms, but then relaxing as they appeared to recognize the hero.

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Solar Sentinel carefully laid the unconscious villain on the ground. He observed the scene, hoping that the robbers didn't do any lasting damage while he was pursuing the villain. It wouldn't do to catch the villain only to find that the thugs had gotten away or killed someone.

"He fled the scene." He said, nodding to the officers. "Did you guys get them? Are there more out there? Are the officers okay?" He said, looking around. If there were, he was prepared to pursue.

"Be careful with this one. I burned myself a little bit trying to punch him. Probably has some sort of fire control powers. Probably a good idea to keep him knocked out.:"

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The officers that came over to take the costumed criminal from Solar Sentinel nodded at his warning, one of the stating, "thanks, we will be sure to be careful till some of the STAR squad guys get here."

He then turned to answering the hero's other questions, answering the one about the first arriving officer first. "The others should be alright, they do not appear to seriously injured."

"But those that fled in the van you called in about are still out there." He then paused and smiled slightly. "But, they don't know that some of the money they took had a tracer hidden inside, so we are tracking them. Better to wait till they get to where they are going and then bring them in, rather than risk someone getting hurt trying to stop them on the road. There are a couple squad cars following along well behind, staying out of sight."